PODi Researches Solutions for the Fundraising Vertical Market

Fundraising is a key challenge for educational institutions, and the service providers that help them meet their needs can forge a long-lasting and beneficial relationship. Educational fundraising is big business. According to the Council for Aid to Education’s annual “Voluntary Support of Education Survey,” in the 2009-2010 fiscal year, donors demonstrated their commitment to higher education with $28 billion in private support.

PODi has undertaken a vertical market research effort designed to mine information from its more than 470 digital printing case studies. This research explores the marketing objectives, challenges and corresponding digital/variable-data solutions for verticals such as education, automotive, entertainment and travel, financial services, insurance/healthcare, not for profit and retail.

Relevant marketing solutions that address these challenges are illustrated with examples from the PODi case studies. One such example is Allegheny College, which developed a direct mail campaign to increase the participation rate of young alumni in it its annual fund drive. Communications were personalized with the recipient’s name, graduation year, major and a personalized URL. Images also varied to reflect the recipient’s extracurricular activities while on campus.

The results of the campaign were outstanding:

32 percent of the donors increased their gift size compare to the previous year, and an

11 percent increase in the number of donors from the young alumni segment.